


The Forests of Fillory

by TheApatheticEmpath



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Background Relationship(s), Brotp, Canon Compliant, Discussion of the Infamous Threesome, Episode: s1e13 Have You Brought Me Little Cakes, Gen, Light Angst, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 00:10:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18376916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheApatheticEmpath/pseuds/TheApatheticEmpath
Summary: They’re walking through the forests of Fillory, headed towards a place they known Jane can be found, when Julia finally brings it up.“Q... What happened?” she asks, voice suspiciously neutral, eyes fixed front when Quentin shoots her a glance.He snorts, amused. “How long have you been sitting on that?”or, quentin tells julia a bit about the clusterfuck his life has become





	The Forests of Fillory

**Author's Note:**

> idk, i’m in the middle of a rewatch and i wanted to see this conversation happen, so i wrote it myself. anyone else notice that all the characters know everything that happens to the others but we never get to see them tell each other anything???

They’re walking through the forests of Fillory, headed towards a place they known Jane can be found, when Julia finally brings it up.

“Q... What happened?” she asks, voice suspiciously neutral, eyes fixed front when Quentin shoots her a glance.

He snorts, amused. “How long have you been sitting on that?”

Apparently having given up on the feigned nonchalance, she stops abruptly, gripping Quentin’s arm and bringing him to a halt beside her.

She fixes him with a look. “I’m a little worried, okay? I know things have been... whatever, between us, but I’m still your best friend and we’re in fucking _Fillory_ right now, and you’re not as excited about it as you should be even with the threat of a gruesome death hanging over our heads.”

Quentin looks down, swiping a hand through his hair quickly like if he stalls enough somehow she’s just going to forget about it.

But this is Julia he’s talking about, who’s never given up on anything in her life.

“I... I, uh. I got a girlfriend,” he chuckles a little, without looking up. It all still hurts to talk, to _think_ about, but something about being here, in Fillory, breathing the air and feeling the breeze in the one place he’s always wanted to be... it takes a little of the edge off. “I got a girlfriend, and we loved each other, and then I did what I always do, and I fucked it up.” He squeezes his eyes shut.

They fly open a second later when Julia gently but firmly grips him by the chin and makes him look her in the eyes.

“Q. You do not fuck everything up. Maybe you fucked this up, I don’t know. But I promise you that you do not ruin everything you touch or whatever depressive bullshit you tell yourself, okay?”

Quentin huffs out a laugh at that.

Julia lets go of his chin, and he ducks his head again for a second, then meets her eyes and, before he can psych himself out, confesses, “I cheated on her. In a threesome. With Margo. And, uh. Eliot.”

He blushes furiously as she blinks in surprise.

There’s silence for a moment.

“Uh...” Her voice is scratchy. She clears her throat. “Q, I... That is definitely not what I was expecting.”

The quiet returns, but only for a moment, before the dam breaks and suddenly they’re both laughing.

It’s a little hysterical, but it feels good, to be laughing with Julia again, despite the circumstances that brought this moment about. They laugh until Quentin’s belly hurts a little, the sounds of their mirth echoing out through the trees, carried through the otherwise quiet forest.

It takes a few minutes, but the smile finally fades from Julia’s face, and she catches Quentin’s eye.

“Listen, I don’t know what happened exactly, I wasn’t there. But Quentin... you’re a good person. You always have been. What you did was... kind of shitty, yeah, but did you do it on purpose, to hurt her?”

Quentin’s eyes flash indignantly. “Of course not! I would never- there were these bottles, and the- the emotions, they hit me, us, all at once, and there was, like, a _lot_ of alcohol, I would _never_ -“

“I know you wouldn’t, Q. Because you’re a good guy that makes mistakes sometimes. You fucked up. Accept it.”

Her eyes are intense, flicking between his like if she just says it forcefully enough, he’ll believe it. “But there’s a way forward. And you’ll get there. Eventually.”

He closes his eyes, nodding, and shame runs through him, hot and clamoring for his attention. But he knows she’s right.

“I’m gonna get her back. Or at least... I’ve got- I’ve got to try.” His shoulders square a little, almost unconsciously, and with that, he turns and begins walking again.

Quentin thinks he catches a glimpse of a hint of a proud smile on Julia’s face as she turns to follow.

He thought this would be too painful to talk about, and it did hurt, but miraculously, he feels a little better, a little more clear-headed. And with a renewed sense of purpose, he forges ahead, on his way to petition a god of a not-so-fictional world with his oldest friend at his side.

They barely make it a hundred feet before Julia clears her throat and asks, “So... Eliot, though? Is that, like...”

Quentin rolls his eyes and studiously ignores her, the sound of her laughter trailing behind them as they go.

**Author's Note:**

> i love these two and their friendship. 
> 
> (apologies if this seems a little ooc, but... 0.02% opium and the rush of visiting the setting of your favorite fantasy series? that would make /me/ a little less maudlin about my ruined relationship ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ )


End file.
